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BIOGRAPHY Early life, education, and personal info Brian Michael Bendis was born to a Jewish-American family on August 18 , 1967 , in Cleveland, Ohio where he attended the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland and the Cleveland Institute of Art. Brian Michael Bendis is married to Alisa Bendis. 1990s: Noir fiction and creator-owned works In the 1990s, following Art School , Bendis entered the comic book industry. His early works were in the genre of Noir Fiction , and he both wrote and drew the artwork for his early works. Contacted by Filsinger Games to work as the artist for their popular Champions Of The Galaxy wrestling game, he went on to become the most prolific artist in that game's history. Joining Caliber Comics in the early 1990s, Bendis created the titles '' A.K.A. Goldfish '' and '' Jinx '', both Creator-owned . During this time, he worked as an artist for the Champions Of The Galaxy wrestling card game, and in fact one of his characters from ''Goldfish'' was used as the inspiration for game character Nefarus. While working for Caliber Comics, Bendis met and became best friends with fellow comic book creator David Mack before either was famous; Mack would later help Bendis to land a position at Marvel. A sketch of Bendis by Mack can be found here . Later, Bendis moved his work to '' and '' Hellspawn ''. In 1999, he won his first Eisner Award , "Talent Deserving of Higher Recognition". 2000s: Superhero work and Marvel Comics In 2000, Bendis began writing ''es. In 2000, David Mack recommended Bendis to Joe Quesada , who was then editor of the Marvel Knights line of Marvel Comics (soon to be Editor-in-chief ). Both Bendis and Quesada have recounted an Anecdote that when Quesada called Bendis with an offer, Bendis thought it was an offer to do artwork, at which point Quesada told him, "Your art sucks!" and asked him to be a writer instead. Since he began working for Marvel Comics, Bendis has only very rarely drawn comic books. Bendis, Quesada, Marvel's then-publisher Bill Jemas , and Scottish writer Mark Millar then worked together to create the Ultimate Marvel Imprint , which featured new, updated versions of Marvel's characters. Bendis himself wrote '' Ultimate Spider-Man ''; the title launched in 2000 and turned out to be a huge hit, exposing Bendis to a much larger audience. Bendis next took over as writer of '' Daredevil '' in 2001; his run, characterized by a gritty, noir-fiction style, has been widely called the most definitive treatment of the character since Frank Miller 's run in the 1980s. Bendis would win two Eisner Award s for ''Daredevil'' in 2003: "Best Continuing Series" and "Best Writer". Bendis continued to work in the Ultimate Marvel universe, not only writing ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' but also doing runs on '' Ultimate X-Men '' and '' Ultimate Fantastic Four '' as well as writing the entirety of '' Ultimate Marvel Team-Up '' and '' Ultimate Six ''. Bendis wanted to write a series focusing on Jessica Drew , a Marvel-owned character, but addressing adult themes. Marvel did not want their character to be in such themes, so Bendis created a character all his own named Jessica Jones. However Marvel Comics did not have a mature line comparable to the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics . To address this issue, Marvel launched the MAX imprint in 2001, with Bendis's '' Alias '' being the first title of the new imprint. Later, in 2004, ''Alias'' would be renamed to '' The Pulse '' and moved out of the imprint into the main Marvel Comics imprint. In 2004, Bendis took over '' Avengers ''. His first story arc was Avengers Disassembled , a major crossover which was very popular but also very controversial amongst longtime fans. ''Avengers'' then relaunched to become ''New Avengers'' with a revamped line-up, including Spider-Man and Wolverine . Bendis also wrote '' Secret War '' in 2004, featuring a cast of superheroes very similar to the cast of ''New Avengers''. In 2004, Bendis moved his ''Powers'' from Image Comics over to Marvel Comics. Because ''Powers'' was creator-owned, it could not be published as part of the regular Marvel Comics imprint. To address this need for an imprint for creator-owned comics, necessitated primarily by ''Powers'' and '' Kabuki '' (owned by Bendis's friend and occasional collaborator, David Mack ), Marvel created the Icon Comics imprint. In 2005, Bendis developed the concept and became lead writer of the major company-wide Marvel Comics crossover in the comic book community. The quotation was attacked by Bendis's critics as an example of over- Hype ; Bendis's supporters approved of Bendis's enthusiasm for the crossover event and countered that the quotation was not meant to be taken literally. Bendis is reuniting with his Daredevil collaborator, Alex Maleev, for an ongoing Spider-Woman comic book starring Jessica Drew, which is slated for release in late 2006. He is writing a screenplay for a ''Jinx'' movie which is set to star Charlize Theron . [http://www.sketchyorigins.com/comics/showthread.php?t=6512 WRITER PROFILE Bendis is primarily noted for two things: on one hand, his skill in writing dialogue, and on the other hand, carefully, slowly progressing plots of his story arcs. Firstly, Bendis is regarded as a fine comics dialogue writer. He is able to write a large range of dialogue convincingly, such as Quentin Tarantino -like "gangsta" talk and snappy teen banter (both featured in ''Ultimate Spider-Man''), deep psychological abysses (''Daredevil'') and also romantic comedy (''Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #1''), in a way it feels natural and never forced. Bendis also writes inner Monologues with the same skill. He also uses up whole pages with few words and repeating identical panels throughout a page, a point which is sometimes met with scorn. Secondly, Bendis has established a reputation for careful plotting. Especially when writing a longer story arc (i.e. six or seven issues), he prefers providing a good backbone for the story first, so that especially the first and often the second and third issues are mainly Exposition (featured in many story arcs of ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' and ''Daredevil''). While critics point out a level of what they consider to be bore and blandness, his supporters praise this approach for being mature and fundamentally sound. Lastly, Bendis has been lauded for revitalizing several relatively obscure old characters and bringing them to prominence; examples include Luke Cage and Spider-Woman . TRIVIA
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Created and owned by Bendis
Image Comics
Marvel Comics
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